So I am a couple of days behind for a TV review, but Monday night’s episode of Crazy Ex- Girlfriend about Thanksgiving had a lot of plot points and I needed a few days to digest it all.

Sorry, I’ll show myself out.

But seriously, there was a lot going on. It was, as usual, an amazingly entertaining hour of TV, but this time something stuck with me. It took me a while to pinpoint exactly what Rebecca had done in this episode that was different from the others. She was, also as usual, crazily self- centered, self- destructive, and seemingly unaware of the impact of her behavior. The difference this time was the person most harmed by Rebecca’s crazy, and it really isn’t pretty. You guys, Rebecca is horribly shitty to Valencia.

Not that Rebecca hasn’t been horrible to people before. Specifically Greg. But unlike Greg, Valencia doesn’t have control over the extent to which Rebecca is part of her life. Greg could choose to have almost nothing to do with Rebecca if he wanted. He instead clearly finds something about their relationship fulfilling enough to continue it. But Valencia? Let’s examine her relationship with Rebecca so far.

First, Rebecca pursues a friendship with Valencia, something Valencia says she’s never been good at. (Is that because Valencia calls her old high school friends “trolls” and says “Sorry, I don’t like humor”? That’s a strong possibility.) And how does Rebecca continue a relationship with someone who acknowledges she doesn’t have a lot of girlfriends? With a strong serial killer vibe-y song and some light sexual assault.

Valencia understandably doesn’t want anything to do with Rebecca at that point. So what does Rebecca do? Cons her way into an invitation to Josh’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving. An event that Rebecca knows Valencia hates and which creates friction in her relationship with Josh. And Rebecca uses to opportunity to blatantly compete with her.

At this point in the story, everyone should start counting the rabbits to make sure none have gone missing. Because if Rebecca weren’t the deeply flawed protagonist of this show, she would undoubtedly be the crazy stalker. Valencia has done literally nothing other than be in a relationship with Josh. Even the intimidating list of Valencia’s charms sexual or otherwise?

That was Rebecca’s fantasy. Valencia had nothing do to with that.

The reason Rebecca’s treatment of Valencia is so important is because it changes the entire make-up of her character. This isn’t just Rebecca being delusional and self- destructive. It isn’t a complex look at someone who is probably suffering with undiagnosed depression. It isn’t even an example of how deeply flawed and hurtful a person can be while still being worthy of love and friendship. It’s a person who is intentionally harming someone for their own gain. And it’s something the show will need to resolve quickly. Rooting for a fucked up mess to get their shit together is one thing. Rooting for an unethical bitch to get her guy regardless of who she hurts along the way is something else entirely.